Rhetorical greenlighted for Fourstardave
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Rhetorical, who had been battling a bit of foot fungus since his fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Manhattan, worked his way into a start in the Grade 1 Fourstardave by breezing a half-mile in 47.20 seconds Wednesday over the main track at Churchill Downs.
It was Rhetorical’s third work since the Manhattan and helped ease trainer Will Walden’s concerns that the horse might not be ready for the race.
“It was good. I thought the work before lacked a little pop, so I figured I’d put him in company,” Walden said. “I kind of started to regret it, but he worked really, really good. He was himself. I had him out [six furlongs] in 1:13. He worked big.”
Walden said Rhetorical, who won the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs in May, is showing other signs that he’s ready for a top effort in the Fourstardave.
“He’s usually a very good work horse, that’s how he tips his hand, but when he’s doing really good he’s pretty tough to get off the track in the morning,” Walden said. “We’ve been seeing that. He’s showing all the usual markers.”
Others pointing to the Fourstardave include Classic Q, Deterministic, Lagynos, and Zulu Kingdom.
Rhetorical will ship from Kentucky on Monday along with Movie Night, a 3-year-old filly pointing to the Grade 1 Test Stakes on the same card. Movie Night has won her last two starts impressively but will be making her stakes debut in the Test against a field that is expected to include four-time stakes winner Explora, Goodall, and Where Luck Lives.
“I think she’s as good as any of them in there,” Walden said.
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